VANCOUVER - The Thunderbirds finish the regular season with two crucial tests against playoff-bound teams. They take on fifth-place Fraser Valley and second-place Victoria, with plenty of movement up or down the standings still possible before the playoff seeds are set. Saturday's game, originally scheduled for Chilliwack's Exhibition Field has been moved to UBC's Thunderbird Stadium. Game time is still 5 p.m.
No. 7 UBC Thunderbirds (7-1-2)
Last Week: W 13-0 vs UNBC
Last weekened was a memorable one for the UBC women's soccer program. They posted their largest margin of victory under coach Mark Rogers in conference play, and fourth-year forward
Janine Frazao became the official Canada West career scoring leader with.
Frazao scored five of UBC's 13 goals, giving her 46 career goals in conference play to pass the old Canada West leader Elizabeth Hudon, who had 44. Frazao also has 13 goals on the season now, tying her for the scoring race with Emma Greig of Victoria.
Taryn Lim and Rachel Sawer have combined for 13 goals up front with Frazao, giving the T-Birds a nice range of options up front. They will face a lot more resistance against the likes of Victoria and Fraser Valley this week, so the 'Birds will have to take advantage of their balance up front to keep opposing defences guessing.
Fraser Valley Cascades (6-3-1)
Last Week: L 1-0 vs Victoria
The Cascades did well to take advantage of their schedule early in the season and pile up enough wins to clinch a playoff spot, because they have to finish the season against the three top teams in the league in Victoria, UBC and Trinity Western.
They already lost the first leg of that test against Victoria, and now they need to regroup and earn some points this week to avoid falling as far as seventh place, which would guarantee a first-round playoff road trip to face one of those top three teams yet again.
The Cascades lack a dominant scorer like UBC and Victoria feature, but they have managed to compensate for that by getting everyone involved in the offence. They have 10 different goal scorers this year, with Donna Pinning's five goals leading the pack.
No. 5 Victoria Vikes (8-1-1)
Last Week: W 1-0 at Fraser Valley
The Vikes also have to go through UBC and Trinity Western to end the season, meaning they can still finish as low as fourth or as high as first depending on their results this week.
Victoria has dominated at both ends of the pitch this year, averaging a league-best 4.5 goals while allowing opponents to score less than half a goal per game.
Sophomore striker Emma Greig is neck-and-neck with Frazao in the league scoring race, fresh off her fourth game-winner of the year last week in the Vikes' 1-0 win over the Cascades. Rookie striker Sarah Douglas has six goals, so youth has been getting the job done up front for the Vikes.
In the middle of the park, veterans Lindsay Hoetzel and Jackie Harrisson have 6 and 5 goals for the Vikes respectively.
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